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Michele Claibourn

I am a research director – a senior data scientist, political scientist, community-engaged scholar, and senior administrator – with 20 years of experience teaching, leading, and managing research and data science teams. Recently I’ve been building and leading Research Data Services in the UVA Library.

My own work has turned towards action-based research, using the tools of data science to promote accountable governance, make visible racial and other social inequities, and impact public policy and movement building. I am always interested in opportunities to use my experience and skills towards creating a more economically and socially just world.

Professional Experience

Leadership

Consult with researchers and design research projects with partners seeking to better understand racial disparities and social structures, and to develop a policy response.

Founded StatLab, a data science consulting service for members of the UVA community where I continue to serve as a senior consultant and to mentor student fellows.

Build a new division of the library enhancing our ability to support the growing data science research community at UVA, recruiting, hiring, and managing a team with diverse skills and talents to meet emerging university research needs.

Supervise a team of 10-12 full-time staff, 3-4 graduate fellows, and research teams across mulitple collaborations on a range of research projects, including work on equity and COVID response in the Charlottesville community, racial disparities in the local child welfare systems, forced displacement events with humanitarian partners, and additional community-oriented and library-directed data science efforts.

Director, Research Data Services & Social, Natural, and Engineering Sciences

UVA Library, University of Virginia

N/A

Current - 2015

  • Lead Data Scientist, Equity Center, 2020-present (partial buyout)
  • Faculty Affiliate/Lead Data Scientist, Global Policy Center, 2019-present
  • Co-Director, Community, Policy, Analytics and Strategy Lab, 2018-present

Director, StatLab and Research Data Services

UVA Library, University of Virginia

N/A

2015 - 2013

  • Associate Director, Data Science Institute, 2014-2016 (partial buyout)

Data Scientist

Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, University of Virginia

N/A

2013 - 2011

Assistant Professor

Department of Politics, University of Virginia

N/A

2011 - 2004

Instructor

ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods, University of Michigan

N/A

2005 - 2002

Assistant Professor

Department of Politics, University of Oklahoma

N/A

2004 - 2002




Education

Methods and Software
  • Statistical modeling and data science
  • R, RStudio, Shiny
  • Data wrangling and visualization
  • Stata and SPSS
  • Text analytics
  • GitHub and reproducibility
  • Some Python and SQL
  • Qualitative methods

PhD., Political Science

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Madison, WI

2002 - 1996

B.A, Political Science

Rice University

Houston, TX

1993 - 1989

Teaching and Mentoring

Teaching and Writing

20 years of experience teaching statistics and data science methods, applied policy research, and political behavior to undergraduate and graduate students.

Design data workshop series for student and adult learning communities, including recruiting and mentoring instructors, marketing and assessment, and contributing to select topics.

Experienced writer in multiple formats, from university press books and peer-reviewed journal articles, to action-oriented reports for local and state agencies, educational materials, and informal writing.

Skilled in communicating about data, technology, and policy to stakeholders, advocates, and learners.

Graduate Courses

University of Virginia and University of Oklahoma

N/A

2020 - 2002

  • Public Interest Data Lab, Saving Lives with Data, Text as Data, Applied Causal Inference, General Linear Models, Linear Models, Applied Time Series, Mixed-Effects Models/Longitudinal Analysis, Introduction to Statistical Analysis

Undegraduate Courses

University of Virginia and University of Oklahoma

N/A

2020 - 2002

  • Project First Gen +, Research Design & Analysis, The Presidency and the Public, Media & Political Communication, Political Pscyology & Decision Making, Citizen Competence in American Democracy, Introduction to American Politics

Select StatLab Workshops

University of Virginia

N/A

2019 - 2013

  • Six-part series on Data Science in R, Multiple Imputation, Cluster Analysis, Duration Models, Matching Methods, Mixed-Effects Models,Sentiment Analysis, Topic Modeling, Text Classification, Data Wrangling, Linear Modeling

REU Mentor

School of Data Science, UVA

N/A

2019

Publications

Last updated on 2020-06-04.

The source code is available on github.com/mclaibourn/mpc_cv.

Citizen Participation and Congressional Responsiveness: New Evidence for Why Participation Matters

Legislative Studies Quarterly 38: 59-82

N/A

2013

  • With Paul Martin

Hearing Campaign Appeals: The Accountability Implications of Campaign Tone

Political Communication 29: 64-85

N/A

2012

Creating Constituencies: Presidential Campaigns, Selective Mobilization, and the Scope of Conflict

Political Behavior 34: 27-56

N/A

2012

  • With Paul Martin

Presidential Campaigns and Presidential Accountability

University of Illinois Press, Series on Democracy, Free Enterprise, and the Rule of Law

N/A

2011

Making a Connection: Repetition and Priming in Campaigns

Journal of Politics 70: 1142-1159

N/A

2008

The Third Face of Social Capital: How membership in Voluntary Associations Improves Policy Accountability

Political Research Quarterly 60: 192-201

N/A

2007

  • With Paul Martin

Gender Differences in Citizen-Level Democratic Citi-zenship: Evidence from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems

Presented to the International Political Science Association (2000), the Midwest Political Science Association (2001), and the Conference on Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (2002)

N/A

2002 - 2000

  • With Virginia Sapiro
  • 2001 Winner, Sophonisba Breckenridge Award for best paper on Women & Politics, Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting

Trusting and Joining: An Empirical Test of the Reciprocal Nature of Social Capital

Political Behavior 22: 267-291

N/A

2000

  • With Paul Martin

Reports and Selected Writing

Child Welfare Referrals in Char-lottesville

Report to the Charlottesville Department of Social Services

N/A

2020

  • With Charlotte McClintock and the Public Interest Data Lab

Charlottesville Foster Care Study

Report to the Charlottesville Department of Social Services

N/A

2019

  • With Charlotte McClintock and the Public Interest Data Lab

Blog posts at UVA StatLab

N/A

N/A

2019 - 2016

Charlottesville Child Welfare Study

Report to the Charlottesville Department of Social Services

N/A

2018

  • With Charlotte McClintock and the Public Interest Data Lab

Review of Competitive Elections and the American Voter, by Keena Lipsitz

Perspectives on Politics 10: 1030-1031

N/A

2013

The Influence of Campaign Advertising

Encyclopedia of Public Opinion, Greenwood Press

N/A

2005

Fourth-Year Report: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program

University of Wisconsin-Madison

N/A

1994

  • With John Witte, Christopher Thorn, and Kim Pritchard

Grants and Awards

Building a Collaborative Regional Equity Atlas

Institute for Museum and Library Services

N/A

2020 - 2018

  • Co-Principal Investigator, with Rebecca Coleman

Thrive Grant for Project First Gen Plus

Office of the Provost and Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Virginia

N/A

2019

  • Co-Principal Investigator, with Paul Martin

Creating a Data Catalog to Promote Access to Open Health Data

National Network of Libraries of Medicine

N/A

2018 - 2017

  • Co-Principal Investigator, with Bart Ragon

Summer Research Grant

Vice-President for Research, University of Virginia

N/A

2006 - 2005

Excellence in Diversity Fellow

University of Virginia

N/A

2006 - 2005

Junior Faculty Research Grant

University of Oklahoma

N/A

2004 - 2003

Faculty Enrichment Grant

College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma

N/A

2003

Instructional Technology Grant

College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma

N/A

2002

Midwest Political Science Association Sophonisba Breckenridge Award

Best paper on Women in Politics presented at the annual meeting

N/A

2001

National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant

University of Wisconsin-Madison

N/A

2000

Clara Penniman Fellowship

Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin

N/A

1999

Professional Activities and Service

Search Committee

Data Scientist, MDI Predictive Displacement Project, Save the Children, International

N/A

2019

Search Committee

Associate University Librarian for Research and Learning Services, UVA

N/A

2019

MAPP2Health Data Evaluation Committee

Thomas Jefferson Health District

N/A

2019 - 2018

Data Science Undergraduate Certificate Committee

University of Virginia

N/A

2019 - 2018

Co-founder and co-organizer

UVA/CVille R Meetup

N/A

2019 - 2014

Judge, MSDS Capstone Projects

Systems & Information Engineering Design Symposium, UVA

N/A

2019 - 2015

Data Science Advisory Board

University of Virginia

N/A

2018 - 2014

Journal and Award Reviewer

N/A

N/A

2018 - 2002

  • American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Political Behavior, Political Psychology, Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Research, Politics and Gender, National Science Foundation, Time-Sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences

Judge, GCOM 7140 Customer Analytics Capstone

Commerce School, University of Virginia

N/A

2017

Advanced Computing Steering Committee

University of Virginia

N/A

2017 - 2014

Organizer and Host, UVA DataFest

University of Virginia

N/A

2016

Quantitative Collaborative Steering Committee

Colleges of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia

N/A

2015 - 2013

Planning Committee for Graduate Certificate in Survey Research Methods

Colleges of Arts & Sciences, University of Virginia

N/A

2013 - 2012

Section Chair, Elections and Voting Behavior

American Political Science Association Annual Meeting

N/A

2012

Philip E. Converse Book Award Committee

American Political Science Association’s Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior Section

N/A

2011

Graduate Admissions Committee

Department of Politics, University of Virginia

N/A

2011 - 2010

Undergraduate Studies Committee

Department of Politics, University of Virginia

N/A

2011 - 2004

Section Chair, Electoral Campaigns

Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting

N/A

2008

Quantitative Reasoning Assessment Committee

University of Virginia

N/A

2008 - 2007

Planning Committee for conference on Polling and Democracy

Miller Center for Public Affairs, University of Virginia

N/A

2008 - 2007

Comparative Politics Search Committee

Department of Politics, University of Virginia

N/A

2008 - 2007

Graduate Student Selection Committee

Society of Political Methodology’s Annual Meeting

N/A

2007 - 2006

Kennedy Oral History Research Director Search Committee

Miller Center for Public Affairs, University of Virginia

N/A

2005

Undergraduate Honors Thesis award committee

Department of Politics, University of Virginia

N/A

2005

Recent Presentations

Panel Chair and Moderator

Data & Democracy, School of Data Science Datapalooza, University of Virginia

N/A

2019

Homework and Hubris: Preparing for Community-Engaged Courses

Innovations in Teaching Pedagogy Summit, University of Virginia

N/A

2019

  • With Paul Martin

Smaller on the Outside: Supporting Researchers through Library andResearch Computing/IT Collaborations

Southeastern University Research Association IT Meeting

N/A

2018

Imagining New Ways to Engage Political News

UVA Library

N/A

2017

From Last to Ancient First: Merging Research Data Services & Social,Natural, Engineering Liaisons.

Association of College and Research Libraries Conference

N/A

2017

Bigger on the Inside: Integrating Research Data Services in Campus-Wide Networks

Coalition for Networked Information Fall Meeting

N/A

2016

Presidential Debate Analysis in R

UVA/CVille R User Meetup

N/A

2016

2016 Presidential Debates: Text as Data

Conference, University of Virginia

N/A

2016

Congressional Earmarks and the Politcs of Representation

Center for the Study of Data and Knowledge, University of Virginia

N/A

2016

Data Services as Information Services: or, Old Wine, New Bottle

ALA Midwinter Meeting

N/A

2014

  • With Ivey Glendon

Population Projections by DemographicDetails: A Multi-Layered Approach

Annual Meeting of the Population Associationof American

N/A

2013

  • With Rebecca Tippett and Qian Cai

Multilevel Modeling for Population Projections: Projections for Virginia

Southern Demographic Association

N/A

2012